JUKE BOX, an one hour array of music

After spending an entire year and a half being pumped into the Japanese forefront for their 8th anniversary, Kanjani8 finally released their sixth full studio album this month, marking two years since the release of the highly reviewed fifth album, FIGHT. I personally love FIGHT, it’s my favorite album from the group because it’s the most musically solid album that they’ve released in the near decade since their debut. Kanjani8 has never disappointed me musically (even I got over my initial dislike for PUZZLE) but FIGHT was that album that really proved to me that, if given the right tools, Kanjani8 can really shine.

Needless to say, I was expecting something better with this release. But, upon the first listen, I was slightly disappointed. JUKE BOX is well produced and has a solid sound, but I felt as if Kanjani8 fell off the train somewhere between awesome to epic. Listening to this album made me wonder if Kanjani8, and their creative team, wanted to push towards a more mainstream sound rather than sticking to the sounds of 8Uppers and FIGHT. Where did they want to go with this album? What did they want to accomplish?

• TAKOYAKI in my heart

The album immediately opens up to the same effect of FIGHT, and previous albums before, with a high pace and high energy song to get the listener pumped up. The song is written and composed by Hyadain, a musician who gained prominence on the internet for his quirky nerdy parodies before breaking out as a producer for Momoiro Clover. In like much of Hyadain’s style, it’s an over the top samba-ish tune that has each member talking about themselves and their connection to Osaka in the crudest way possible (questionable sexuality, questionable sexual acts, etc) — to the point that, despite the song being the leading track, it can not be performed on Japanese television before 12am.

I love Hyadain. I have his album and it’s on a constant play in my car everyday. It’s because of him I now listen to Momoiro Clover. With him being from Osaka himself and a graduate of Kyoto University, I had hoped he would collaborate with Kanjani8 for the pure crack factor… and it happened. Hyadain has a talent of capturing that idol spirit in the groups he writes for and he really captured not only Kanjani8’s idol prowess but also their comedy. There hasn’t been an Osaka themed song that has really shaped the group and what makes them special in their own regard.

• Rescue Rescue

The album continues the high energy pace with Rescue Rescue, a track written and composed by Joe Inuoe, a Japanese American who came back to Japan to start his music career with mild success. I did not know Joe wrote this track until a friend pointed out to me… Then I realized instantly that it had to been him. The song screams his style of composition; that late 90s skateboarder rock that was everywhere at one point.

The song is good but it sounds too much like something that Joe would have sung, as if it was an unused demo of his that he just passed on to Kanjani8. If I look beyond the Joe Inoue factor of the song, it’s not a bad song. The Kanjani8’s constant inability to pronounce English words drags this song across the finish line in mangled mess. I’m sorry, but I honestly wish they would stop having them sing English words or send them off to an English school where they can learn how to pronounce the words to a level where it just doesn’t sound like another Japanese word.

• Sorry Sorry love

I hate autotune and this song is covered in it. Add random dubstep and Sorry Sorry love becomes the awkward dance track that is up there with Water Drop, My Last Train, and Futari no Namida on my list of ” Shittiest Kanjani8 Songs to Ever Exist “. Yokoyama is completely distracting, sounding like he’s a robot out of breath half the time. The autotune also becomes annoying to the point it they all sound like Vocaloids.

I… just… no. I hate this song.

The placement of the song is also awkward as well. I’ll get into that later.

• Hesomagari

Hesomagari marks the first single on the album.

• Seishun Nostalgia

Seishun Nostalgia, or Youth Nostalgia (youth as in the teenage years), is the first album introduced on the album. It opens up with Subaru singing the chorus to an acapella done by Kanjani themselves. The song is really pretty and Subaru doesn’t sound so harsh. He approaches it with a delicacy that is rare to hear at times. Written by Skoop on Somebody, Seishun Nostalgia carries the S.O.S trademark sound that I feel would have been better used on a more vocally diverse artist. Despite being beautiful, I feel as if the song took over the group at times.

• Namida no Kotae

Namida no Kotae is the second single on the album. Written and composed by SEKAI NO OWARI.

• Yuuyami Train

Yuuyami Train, or Twilight Train, reminds me a lot of the popular rock songs in Japan from the late 90s by groups such as GLAY or L’Arc~en~Ciel. A simple melody, the song is definitely brings up some nostalgia for me as a fan of those rock bands back in the early 00s. While nothing amazing or incredible, the song helps bring Kanjani8 back to something they do good at: rock. The last few tracks between Rescue Rescue and Namida no Kotae put the group in genres that they lack at in some degree or another but Yuuyami brings the group back to a safe ground and I really appreciate that. I guess it does help that the song was written by Johnny’s in house writers who’ve worked with the group on the past two albums, so they already know what they’re dealing with.

• Kurage

Kurage (Jellyfish) is probably, for me, the highlight of this album. The song opens up with Yasu, an extreme rarity because Kanjani8’s songs thus far have been opened up by either Subaru, Ryo, or Ohkura. Yes, has opened up songs, but as a harmony not the lead. Here we just hear Yasu against a guitar and a muted trumpet and it just sounds amazing.

The soft, laidback, intro of the song is quickly wiped away when Ohkura and Maru come in to drive the song into the chorus and the song just gets ten times better from there. Written by Kimaguren’s Iseki, the rapping and the overall general free spirit summer-themed lyrics is a Kimaguren staple but the music isn’t a Kimaguren style (that I’m at least familiar with) and I think helped give Kanjani8 a moment to actually own the song for themselves rather than it become a situation where Kanjani8 is just singing a cover of someone else’s song.

But I think the best quality of this song is that at end it just returns to that slow mellow feel that the song opened up with. Yasu just takes us to the end and you’re just left feeling great, as if summer just ended with, ” I’ll try looking up at that sky and I’ll remember… ”

• Dear Summer-sama

This song is another summer themed song that is just fun. It completely sounds like a summer beach song that RIP SLYME would have totally released; just that high speed crazy chorus with the trippy lyrics. It’s a fun song and I can’t wait to see it performed live. This song totally could have been a great summer single and it totally would have sold. But… again… idols just don’t work in the same way that a musician would work.

Oh well.

• Aoppana

Aoppana is the third single on the album.

• Kitakaze Blues

Kitakaze Blues, or North Wind Blues, is a ballad. At this point, I feel as if there’s too many ballads. This song isn’t so bad and hopefully will be something like a jam session for the group on their tour (though with that piano solo, I doubt it). It’s not a bad song in the slightest but its just a bit dated and for some reason I can’t get over this lyric, ” Looking for your shoes ”

… But why would you be?

• Anata e

Anata e, or To You, is another ballad. I’m pretty sure Tackey and Tsubasa sang something like this once.

• Your Wurlitzer

This. Song.

This song is Kanjani8. Yes, they’re an idol group, but they shine as a rock band. Written by Ryo and Composed by Ryo and Yasu, this song just has that rough edge that just gets you going. Ohkura on the bridge that leads Yasu into the Chorus and then Subaru aggressively takes us into the end, ” Do you have any requests in mind? Dub, punk, reggae, jazz, classic, pop, folk, rock, hip hop… Well! How about this song then? ”

• West side!!

Your Wurlitzer serves as the lead into West side!! a song that I feel like is the group’s new Misetekure.  A powerful song with an uplifting message, the selling point is the easy sing-a-long chorus that brings it to a complete circle. The actual composition of the song is great too, with a few technical bits that makes me really interested in how K8 will deliver the song on the stage this tour.

• Koko ni shika nai keshiki

Koko ni shika nai keshiki, or No Other Scenery but Here, is the fourth single on the album.

And that’s it for the album. The normal edition of the album features a second disc that contains three tracks, all written by members of Kanjani8 while one song is composed by Yasuda. As a set up for their 10th anniversary album, two units were created to go against each other in a singing battle during the JUKE BOX Tour. Fans at the tour, and those at home, will be able to vote on which unit will win and which group will need to suffer through another ambiguously gay and embarrassing manly date.

• Beast

Beast is the song from Team Nishikido, which is made up of Ryo, Maru, and Hina (Murakami). A song with a melody reminiscent of from a 60s spy film, Ryo writes a song about the failures of being a guy down in his luck in a dog eat dog world. Someone with great ambitions now reduced to the day to day living of a nobody.

I had mentioned on my personal blog that I felt as if Ryo’s group was at a vocal disadvantage and they would make it up with showmanship… and I was pretty much proven right with my predictions. The song is no vocal wonder and musically it’s a chaotic hot mess to make up for the vocal shortcomings, but Hina provides the listeners with his inability to pick up the waitress, despite the little voices in his head (Maru and Ryo) telling him to go for it before he just gives up and orders a burger. It’s an amusing song that completely relies on its stage presence to win this battle.

• Kari

Kari, or Hunt, is the song from Team Yokoyama who lucked out by winning Yasuda, Subaru, and Ohkura — two top singers and the group’s songwriter. I had no idea what direction they were going to go into but I definitely wasn’t expecting this. It’s like they decided to take Maru’s solo from Puzzle and turn it into this… I have no idea how to describe it.

Yoko knew that he had a vocal advantage, and the song opens up with an acapella with Subaru on the lead, as if we’re listening to the beginnings of the Jungle Book. Soon, we’re throwing in tribal music and the song is about how men just wake up every day on the hunt with many metaphors to love and being on the hunt. It’s musically sound song but the lyrics go over my head. I just need to see this live.

• All is well

The final track on the album as a whole is the best song. Written by Kanjani8 and music by Yasu, the song sort of has a flow of something SEAMO or Funky Monkey Babys would do but breaks into a sweet chorus. Its songs like this that wishes that Kanjani8 would write all their own stuff. They know what they can do and their limits. Everyone sounds great and you don’t have moments where its like, ” I don’t think you should have sung that… ”

Overall, Juke Box is a good album but I feel as if its missing something. Subaru mentions on the DVD that the album is called JUKE BOX because, like a JUKE BOX, its a random selection of songs… and yeah, that’s what this album feels like. A huge clusterfuck of songs. Good songs but the album has no direction. Sorry sorry love just seems so out of place on an album that’s generally pop/rock. It’s like Saite Ikiyo off of PUZZLE, that random enka song they had to thrown in because Kanjani8 (at the time) was still being categorized as an enka group. I hate it when people do shit just to do it out of requirement. Luckily they threw the song at the beginning and not at the end to fuck with the flow.

Kanjani8, as a group, excels at certain genres of music and you can definitely hear their passion when they’re singing those songs. This album seems more like a mainstream album that isn’t just for the fans or devoted listeners but for everyone in the whole goddamn country. There were too many ballads, which mainstream Japan loves to hear, but that’s just one too many for me to really like. Give me one or two but don’t throw in four.

JUKE BOX is a concept album and Kanjani8 doesn’t do well with concept albums. Looking at PUZZLE is a prime example of concept albums going awry. Hopefully the 10th Anniversary album will be amazing. I had expectations for JUKE BOX and it didn’t deliver them… but… There are gems on the album so I can’t take that away. All is well, Your Wurlitzer, Kurage, Takoyaki in my heart, etc… Those songs give this album life that, without, probably would have fell flat.